Custom repainted TF from China

[zs96742]

These are Transformers Custom painted

Ultimate Optimus Prime

http://s14.sinaimg.cn/middle/4cef2cb2gaaca3b56e02d

Jetwing Optimus Prime

http://img03.taobaocdn.com/imgextra/...2122472428.jpg

ROTF Optimus Prime

http://s11.sinaimg.cn/middle/4cef2cb2g88233bc3015a

Megatron

http://i736.photobucket.com/albums/x...721fa075aa.jpg

Magnus

http://i736.photobucket.com/albums/x...b04c8c2017.jpg

[VGMStudios]

two of the images dont work. But see what a little paint can do to a figure. make it look 100% better. these are awesome! I only wish companies would do this to being with! thanks for sharing!

[Krittle]

Optimus looks badass!

[GoktimusPrime]

two of the images dont work. But see what a little paint can do to a figure. make it look 100% better. these are awesome! I only wish companies would do this to being with! thanks for sharing!

The reason why HasTak don't do this is because it would be really expensive. Remember that HasTak's primary target market are kids, and they need to strictly conform within a limited budget and set price point (that's what all these Classes are (e.g. Legends/Legion, Commander, Scout, Deluxe, Voyager, Leader etc.) - they're price points. People call them "size classes," but they're really price points.

If HasTak introduced this level of paint applications to their toys, they would have to increase the price points; and while adult collectors like you may be willing to pay that extra amount, many children may not be able to afford it, or their parents may not be willing to pay it. This is nothing new, it's been happening since G1. That's why Transformer packaging always have a disclaimer with something like, "Products and colour may vary" because they'll make late changes to the products after they photograph them for packaging for budgetry reasons or what not. For example, Animated Deluxe Bumblebee has red tips on his rocket boosters, but on the toy they're just silver like the rest of the rockets - so obviously it was one less piece of paint app on the final product. This was done to conform to budget.

1988's Godbomber is significantly different (far more simplified) compared to the original prototype which looks like a much nicer toy... but it was abandoned because it would have exceeded the budget and Takara would have had to increase the RRP for the toy.

So while these customs look fantastic, you also need to consider how much it costs to make them look like that... and while it would cost HasTak much less than individual customisers (since they'd do it en masse), it would still add additional costs to the toy, which means that in order to do so HasTak may either have to:
+ Increase the cost of the toy
+ Sacrifice another element of the toy to offset the cost of paint apps (e.g. more simplistic engineering, loss of a gimmick etc.)

Now I'm all in favour of ditching lame gimmicks to give us better paint apps or quality engineering -- especially electronic sound gimmicks which I find rather pointless in most toys (do our TF toys really need to talk and make sounds?). Not only does it sap away money that could be better spent on improving engineering or paint apps, but it also hinders the engineering of the toy because designers have to work around this solid electronic sound "block." A part of the toy ends up being this housing chunk and they pretty much build a Transformer around that chunk. I'm not a fan of Transformers that are made as toys built around a gimmick... I think gimmicks should be built around the toy. Like MechTech -- I like that gimmick because it's built around the toy and doesn't really interfere with the design or playability of the action figures. It's a "minimally intrusive" gimmick unlike electronic sound gimmicks.

But even if Hasbro ditched the electronic sound gimmick from the Leader Class moulds, I'm not sure if it would offset the cost of the toy enough to warrant giving it the crazy level of detailed paint apps seen in these customs. As I said, these customs are fantastic, but it's generally not practical for Hasbro or TakaraTOMY to apply them to their toys which have to conform to limited budgets and set price points.

[Hursticon]

Wow! - Absolutely amazing efforts there, truly on a professional level!
Are these your own works zs96742?